The shutdowns of the pandemic seem to have sparked a change in the social norm that children turn up to school every day.
The huge number who are persistently absent has been blamed on a rise in anxiety, more parents working from home and the cost-of-living crisis which makes cheaper term-time holidays more tempting.
Illness, appointments, friendship issues and bullying also play a part.
Ultimately it boils downs to a shift in attitude, with the unwritten social contract that saw parents getting their children to school every day damaged.
Teachers say the only solution is to repair the relationship between families and schools.
Schools are tackling the problem from all angles by becoming more welcoming places, offering communal breakfasts, buddy systems, break-out rooms, hot chocolate and a friendly face at the school gate.
But they are also warning parents that allowing absenteeism is a form of neglect and sending police to knock on doors. None of the professionals I spoke to think that increasing fines for parents — which is the Government’s plan — will help solve the problem.
The statistics are clear. The lower a pupil’s attendance, the worse they are likely to perform in exams.
If whole sections of the population are under-achieving, the productivity of the whole country could be affected.
And if children aren’t in school, the disadvantage gap will be frozen in aspic. There is also fear for children’s safety. If they drop off the school roll altogether who will know what they are doing?
Teachers told me that all staff, from receptionists to headteachers, feel the stress when a child fails to turn up at school, because they know and like the children in their care.
As one said: “We have to do all we can — this is children’s lives we are talking about.”
